Erika D. Smith: Welcome to The Coke Lot, a true city on the edge of Indy 500

May 26, 2013

Every May campers invade The Coke Lot to play, party and enjoy the Indy 500. / Star file

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Tim Bartemus and Joe Willing are the mayor and former mayor of The Coke Lot. / Erika D. Smith

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The sun had not yet set, but Tim Bartemus was already exhausted.

It was sad, really. Only 31 years old, standing in the middle of the biggest party camp outside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the poor guy could barely finish a beer. Clearly, the weight of his responsibilities was beginning to wear on him. And why not? Tailgating, when it’s done correctly, is part art and part chore.

No one knows that better than Bartemus — the mayor of The Coke Lot. Well, except maybe the former mayor of The Coke Lot, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

For the uninitiated, The Coke Lot is a swath of grass along Georgetown Road near West 25th Street where race fans park their RVs in the days leading up to the Indianapolis 500. It’s within beer-can throwing distance of the Speedway as well as a Coca-Cola Bottling plant, which is how the lot got its nickname.

For four days every race weekend, The Coke Lot is the best free place to party in Indianapolis.

And when I say “party,” I don’t mean let’s throw an impromptu cookout. I mean, let’s have live bands play for an evening with security guards at the “door,” and let’s build a tiki bar so elaborate that it looks as if it belongs at an island resort.

There are lights and TVs, a recycling system and established rules of conduct. There’s a quasi-police force to keep an eye out for strangers and thieves. In addition to the mayor, there are two deputy mayors, a queen, a wardrobe coordinator, a secretary of state, an attorney general, a secretary of interior and two rookies, both of whom wear cardboard signs around their necks that say “rookie” in black Sharpie marker.

And then there’s grandma.

Like Burning Man rising from the playa in Nevada each year, The Coke Lot is a city with an evolving societal structure that rises from the grass each May — after this pioneering group of race fans mows it to a manageable height, that is.

Bartemus, who is an import coordinator for Phoenix International the rest of the year, became mayor in 2012. “Honestly, I think I was the only one that wanted it,” he joked.

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The first and former mayor, Joe Willing, gave Bartemus a toilet as a throne when he retired. It was a useful gift; on Saturdays before the race, it doubles as a beer cooler.

Willing, who was far more refreshed than Bartemus on Thursday, seems to be enjoying his retirement. The 35-year-old Indianapolis resident will be the first to admit that The Coke Lot is now a “dictatorship.” He appointed his successor.

Willing, however, was actually elected.

It was 1997, and he and his family and friends had been camping out for years.

“Everybody’s always needed something. They need ice. They need to know where to come get this. They need to know directions into town. They need to know something about the track. So we decided that someone needed to organize an election and elect a leader.”

So they did.

These days, the mayor’s jurisdiction extends west from Georgetown Road to a line of portable toilets. On the other side lies a domain run by a group of race fans who are mostly from Detroit.

They run the tiki bar and eight lanes of alleys for “fowling,” which is basically bowling with a football. This weekend marked the 10th annual fowling tournament, and 96 teams from all over The Coke Lot competed.

In the end, it’s all about community — and fun.

“This is our favorite time of the year. We love the race,” said Chris Hutt, 44, who helps build and run the tiki bar every year. “Not everybody goes to the race, and that just blows my mind. I can’t imagine coming down here and not going to the race, but some people like the festivities out here and recover on Sunday.”